"For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food. For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. Therefore, leaving the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ, let us go on to perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, of the doctrine of baptisms, of laying on of hands, of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment. And this we will do if God permits. . . . But, beloved, we are confident of better things concerning you, yes, things that accompany salvation, though we speak in this manner. For God is not unjust to forget your work and labor of love which you have shown toward His name, in that you have ministered to the saints, and do minister. And we desire that each one of you show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope until the end, that you do not become sluggish, but imitate those who through faith and patience inherit the promises." (NKJV)
"Those who are of full age."
Our life choices—our ability to discern which behavior and choices are good and which are evil—show our spiritual maturity, whether we are babes or mature believers. Additionally, so does our worship, not so much the how we worship, but the why we worship.
Baby Worship
When we first become a Christian, we realize that we now have the power, authority, and right to enter into the presence of the Almighty God and talk to Him. Not only that, but we have the right to present Him with our petitions.
"Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God" (Philippians 4:6 NKJV).
"Let your requests be made known to God." We have the right to come into God’s presence and ask Him for anything. It doesn’t mean He will always grant it (Thank goodness!), but it does mean that He will always listen to us. As new Christians, as babes in the faith, this is often an amazing revelation. But if we don’t grow up in the faith, we can become bogged down with this kind of relationship with the Lord. We begin to worship Him for what He can do, particularly what He can do for us. We begin to focus on the fact that He provides, He heals, He restores, He empowers, He leads, He makes the way, He blesses, He takes care of us. And He does do all that!
The problem is, when we focus on what God can do for us, the relationship begins to tilt, to become something other than what it should be. It becomes about what He can do for us, rather than about Him. Worship shouldn’t stay at this level. We need to mature.
Higher Worship
As we mature, the focus of our relationship with God begins to be about what He has done, rather than what He will do. He is the Creator of the universe (He created us). He is the Alpha and Omega (He planned the beginning and the end of everything). He is the Author and Finisher of our faith (He has worked out the steps of our lives). He is the Savior (He has saved us). So, rather than asking God to do, do, do for us, we begin to focus on what He has already done. We are grateful for how He was taking care of us, even before we knew Him, even before we were born.
Again, all this is true and all this is right, but again, this is an immature worship pattern.
Highest Worship
I think that highest worship comes when it doesn’t matter what God did or what He might do. In thinking about this, the Lord’s been taking me back to an account in Daniel.
In the Old Testament, there came a time after the divided kingdoms of Israel and Judah that the Jewish people were so rebellious, so sinful, that the Lord allowed for them to be conquered. During that process, many Jewish people were relocated from their original homes to homes and cities of their conquerors, usually as slaves. When Nebuchadnezzar conquered Judah, he took to his country a group of young Jewish boys. These boys had, up until this point, been planning out their lives as any boy would in the Jewish culture. They may be been betrothed (or thinking about it). They may have been apprenticed and learning a trade. They may have even been building their own homes, planning for the time when they would marry and be recognized as men in their communities. Abruptly, war came crashing in and they were taken as the spoils of war to a foreign country, a country where the language, culture, and daily life practices were totally different than what they were used to. For three of these young men—Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah—the change was all-inclusive. These young men were "good-looking, gifted in all wisdom, possessing knowledge and quick to understand" (Daniel 1:4), so they were taken as slaves to the king’s palace. They were redressed, re-educated, and even had their names changed to Shadrach, Meschach, and Abed-Nego. It is very likely that they were also made into eunuchs.
Think about what had happened. Everything about their lives was abruptly and violently changed with no hope of it ever going back to the "way it was", and yet these young men continued to worship God. They found favor with the king and were given positions of trust and influence. Until one day. The king decided to make a huge idol and require everyone to worship it. These young men remained true to their faith and refused. The penalty was to be thrown into a furnace and burned alive. Here is their response:
"Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego answered and said to the king, ‘O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. If that is the case, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us from your hand, O king. But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up’" (Daniel 3:16-18 NKJV).
"God will deliver us, but even if He doesn’t, we won’t disobey Him. We will continue to worship only Him."
God had allowed everything to be taken from these young men. These men didn’t have the comfort of "Jesus as their Savior" for the Lord Jesus had not yet come. They didn’t have the comfort of a Bible by their bedsides to read daily for the only scriptures existed in scrolls that were likely still in the synagogues in Judah. They only had the knowledge that God is trustworthy and that He is Who He says He is. They trusted God’s character and worshiped Him as God, not a Provider or Savior, but simply as God. It didn’t matter whether or not God showed Himself to be worthy of worship. They already knew that He was (worthy of worship).
These three young men are only three of a multitude of people, others of which are described in Hebrews 11:
"Through their faith they defeated kingdoms. They did what was right, received God’s promises, and shut the mouths of lions. They stopped great fires and were saved from being killed with swords. They were weak, and yet were made strong. They were powerful in battle and defeated other armies. Women received their dead relatives raised back to life. Others were tortured and refused to accept their freedom so they could be raised from the dead to a better life. Some were laughed at and beaten. Others were put in chains and thrown into prison. They were stoned to death, they were cut in half, and they were killed with swords. Some wore the skins of sheep and goats. They were poor, abused, and treated badly. The world was not good enough for them! They wandered in desert and mountains, living in caves and holes in the earth. All these people are known for their faith, but none of them received what God had promised." (Hebrews 11:33-39 NCV).
"None of them received what God had promised." They worshiped Him because of Who He is, not because of what He had done or what He might do. They knew God and they would worship Him, regardless of what might happen to them in this life. Worship that we give to the Lord, not because of what He does or has done, but simply because of Who He is, this is the highest form of worship that we can give.
You see, worship needs to become not about the stuff, about getting "blessings" today because the stuff here doesn’t matter.
"Now we hope for the blessings God has for His children. These blessings, which cannot be destroyed or be spoiled or lose their beauty, are kept in heaven for you." (1 Peter 1:3 NCV).
When we worship God for what He has done or what we want Him to do for us, we are very often wanting the blessings that aren’t in heaven. We want the blessings on earth that can be destroyed, that can be spoiled, that can lose their beauty. We need rather to turn our hearts to those things which are lasting, which are eternal—to that One who is everlasting and will never fade or leave or die. We need to learn to get our eyes off the "stuff of the moment" and be content just in His presence. Paul had learned this when he wrote:
"I have learned to be satisfied [content] with the things that I have and with everything that happens. I know how to live when I am poor, and I know how to live when I have plenty. I have learned the secret of being happy at any time in everything that happens, when I have enough to eat and when I go hungry, when I have more than I need and when I do not have enough. I can do all things through Christ, because He gives me strength" (Philippians 4:11b-13 NCV).
When our worship stops being about what God "needs" to do for us and instead becomes about who we can become because of Who He is, then our worship starts to demonstrate the maturity of our faith. When we stop focusing on us and start focusing on Him, we begin to grow up in the Lord.
© 2014 Robin L. O’Hare. All Rights Reserved.
For permission to copy, please contact servinggodalone@yahoo.com
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